Conshohocken Pizza Shop Owner Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison and Fined Almost Half Million Dollars for Tax Crimes

United States Attorney William M. McSwain announced on Monday, November 26th that Giuseppe “Pino” DiMeo, 51, of Eagleville, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 24 months’ imprisonment and ordered to pay $463,738 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), for conspiring to defraud the IRS and filing false tax returns. In addition, DiMeo was also sentenced to serve three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a special assessment of $1,100. DiMeo plead guilty to the charges.

DiMeo and his business partners at restaurants defrauded the IRS of income taxes and payroll taxes. From 2008 through 2014, DiMeo took cash from his restaurants and paid many of his employees in cash under the table, then hid his “cash skim” and the cash payroll payments from his accountant and from the IRS in order to evade payment of income and payroll taxes. In total, DiMeo failed to report to the IRS approximately $2,000,000 in gross receipts from his stores.

In the press release from the Department of Justice it states that “DiMeo’s cash skim and cash payroll payments occurred at DiMeo’s Pizza of Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania (closed); Pizzeria DiMeo’s of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (now sold); Allegro Pizza of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (closed); and DiMeo’s Pizzaiuoli Napulitani of Wilmington, Delaware.”

MoreThanTheCurve.com is not aware of there ever being a DiMeo’s Pizza in Lafayette Hill, but there was one at 1642 Butler Pike in Conshohocken (Plymouth Township). That space was raided and closed. It is now La Cucina Italian Eatery.

DiMeo also owns a very prominent corner, 101 Fayette Street, in Conshohocken. That property is home to Jimmy John’s and El Limon (he is just the landlord for those businesses). This property is not involved in his legal troubles.

“For years, DiMeo maintained that his businesses were barely profitable, all the while living a lavish lifestyle bankrolled by the money he owed the IRS,” said U.S. Attorney McSwain. “His actions reveal a deliberate disregard for the law. Today’s sentence sends a powerful message to those who cheat the tax system: you will not get away with it.”

“Not only did Giuseppe DiMeo skirt his income tax obligations, he also failed to withhold and remit, to the IRS, income taxes for his employees,” said IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Chart Guy Ficco. “This sentence should serve as a reminder that IRS Criminal Investigation and the Department of Justice have no tolerance for such criminal behavior.”

The case was investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Maria M. Carrillo and Tiwana L. Wright